Xaugust s schemmel



Patented Jan. l, 1889.

n w m w no w. M M 6 u, A n A lf .llllwl mm M w. s n@ C u n 2| c nh u 1..C 7o JAW (No Model.)

lmesws .wf

UNITED STATES PATENT AUGUST SCHEMMEL, OF MILVAD KFE, VISCONSN.

MUSICAL GAME APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 395,635, dated January1, 1889. Application filed November 8, 1887. Serial No. 254,590. (Nomodel.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGtsrScHEnMEL, ot Milwaukee, in the county ofMilwaukee, and in the State of lYisconsin, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in illusical Games g and l do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to games; and it consists in a device for composingmusic by chance, the result being a composition correctly written andcomplet e, all as fully set forth hereinafter.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan view (partly broken away) of thecomposing-portfolio open and with the beginning of a musical compositionarranged therein on movable cards. Fig. 2 is an edge view of the saidportfolio. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail of the same on line 3 3 of Fig.l. Fig. l is a plan view (partly broken away) of the box containing thecomposing-cards; and Fig. 5 is a front elevation (also partly brokenaway) of the said box.

A represents the box, which is divided into sixty-four compartments, o,each compartment being designed to hold eleven of the composing-cardsl,and cach card l (which l term a measure) has appropriate musical linesand notes printed thereon and two numbers above the same, the left-handnumber being the same on all'the eleven measures in each compartment,and the right-hand number running from 2 to l2 on the said eleven cardsor measures in each compartment.

To avoid confusiomlprefer to employ ArA bie figures for the left-handnumbers, which are the compartment-numbers, and Roman numerals for theeleven right-hand numbers in each compartment, as shown.

C is the portfolio, preferably made with a liexible centralconnecting-strip, so as to fold for convenience, and having a series ofhorizontal strips, I; l), extendingl across each leaf, with wider sirips, c c, secured above these, so as to form grooves d to retain theupper and lower edges ot' the measures or cards B, which are slipped infrom one side of the leaves, the other sides having vertical strips e toretain the said cards when they have been slipped to place, as shown inFig. l.

)Vith a game-box having sixty-four compartments the portfolio would haveplace for sixty-four cards or measures, and the strips c would bear theappropriate numbers from l to 6l, (preferably eight on a strip, asshowin) so as to show instantly where the cards from everycompartmentbelonged.

The game may be played by one or any number of persons and in a varietyof waysfor example, with a pair of dice and a dieebox. The first playerwill throw the dice and count the spots on them. Suppose it is ten. Hewould then take from the first compartment the card marked l X and slipit to place between the first and second of the strips c until thecenter of said card was in line with the number l on the top strip c,the said card being pushed against the strip c at the left of theleft-hand leaf of the portfolio. Then the next player would throw thedice, (or, if one person was playing, he or she would then make thesecond throw,) supposed, for illustration, to be six, and wouldsimilarly take from the second compartment of the box A the card ormeasure marked 2 YI and push it to place against the first card. Then,supposing the third throw was double one, the player would take thefirst card (marked 3 ll from the third compartment of the box A and slipit to place, and so on in turn until a card had been taken from everyone of the sixty-four compartments and the portfolio iilled up with thesixty-four measures. Each measure is complete in its notes, and eachcard is interchangeable with any other card of the eleven in its owncompartment. Another way to compose7 the music is to have one personhandle the portfolio and box and another person to call out in turn (andat random) any number from? to l2, when the iirst player must take outthe cards B as fast as called and slip them to place. After thesixty-four compartments are filled then the piece produced may be playedlike any other musical composition. lf desired, the entertainment may bevaried by blindfolding the composer or by selecting the cards from theproperboxes, successively, from the blank side, (the eleven cards ineach box having been first shnftleth) so that no one will have any ideawhat the result will be until the portfolio has been entirely iilled up.

As there are oven seven hundred cards or IOO In a. game apparatus, theeombinationvith a box having' a series of compartments, of a portfoliohaving a flexible center anda series of horizontal retaining-strips, anda series of interchangeable cards having music printed thereon,substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, atMilwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State ot' Wisconsin, in thepresence of two witnesses.

AUGUST SCHEMMEL.

IVitnesses:

J ULrUs SALOMON, N. E. OLIPHANT.

